MDC Byo congress elects office-bearers

e two remaining provincial congresses of Bulawayo and Matabeleland South last weekend. “Committed and dedicated provincial leaderships have now been elected in two of the party’s 12 provinces,” said Nelson Chamisa, MDC information secretary, this week. Among those elected are Lovemore Moyo (Matobo) who is now the Matabeleland South provincial chairman, Seiso Moyo, a veteran MDC activist from Beitbridge, Agnes Mhloyi provincial chairperson, Alderman Mattison Hlalo, who is the vice chairperson and Samuel Khumalo, a veteran trade unionist, who was elected vice secretary. Chamisa reported that the Bulawayo congress attracted 650 enthusiastic party delegates from the seven district structures of the party in the province. In Matabeleland South, 450 delegates and observers from the seven districts attended the congress. “What is now left is the main congress where millions of our supporters will engage in a leadership regeneration and renewal process. The people are clear that the time for opportunism and bickering is over and we must now focus on taking the struggle forward by engaging in a paradigm shift in our struggle to install democracy in Zimbabwe,” he said. “Our train will disgorge those who have sought to pursue parochial and self-serving agendas. Excess baggage is going to be off-loaded. We must make that a closed chapter and seek to consolidate the people’s struggle. Men and women of tried and tested leadership are expected to assume positions at the Congress to steer the MDC into government and indeed extricate this country out of the current economic quagmire and social decay.” The membership expects President Morgan Tsvangirai to present his report at the Congress on the achievements and challenges of the party in the past five years. Delegates to the Congress are also expected to map out the strategies and programmes to reinvigorate the party and to dislodge the dictatorship in this country. Chamisa emphasised that the majority of Zimbabweans, including business, the church and ordinary people had been against the Senate election. “The cost to the fiscus and the impact that cost has on the budget deficit and on the economy has spelt doom for our country,” he said. “The Senate project is a Zanu (PF) project. It is a project that is linked to the succession politics in Zanu (PF). It is part of Zanu (PF)’s cut-and-paste approach to the Zimbabwean crisis. The MDC has no business with what happens in a party that has collapsed the country and ruined the people’s lives over the past 25 years. We need a new beginning. We need a new Zimbabwe. We must seek solutions to the deepening national crisis.” He said the emergencies confronting the country were immense. “We have a huge responsibility to crush the dictatorship and deliver change. Our challenge is to build a democratic society with abundant opportunities for all. We must unite, heal and integrate our society across race, tribe and ethnicity. “We have an obligation to serve the people. Our enemy remains Zanu (PF) and Robert Mugabe and not a few within our number who are against confronting the dictatorship.”